In the late afternoon, Xue Jing updated his Weibo with a handwritten apology letter to readers.
In black and white, Xue Jing's statement was concise and clear. He apologized for the inappropriate wording in his previous advertorial marketing, for the erroneous remarks he made in public, and for the negative values he established by relying on traffic to quickly monetize. In order to sincerely reflect on his actions, he will no longer occupy too much of the public eye. The details of any subsequent donations to his new work will be announced by Zhou Shuang's studio.
But before deleting his Weibo account, he had to say something: he had no moral issues, only a problem of blind arrogance. The woman who broke up with him four years ago was his first love, and the woman he is dating now is also his first love. In all his life, he has only ever had one girlfriend.
Schrödinger's cat satirized the uniqueness of human consciousness, a fact fully demonstrated by Schrödinger's own limited life experience.
Xue Jing didn't know whether his apology letter had quelled the anger of netizens, but after handing over all his social media accounts and passwords to Zhou Shuang for safekeeping, he suddenly felt an unprecedented sense of relief.
Even before his new novel had warmed up, he was already planning to complete another suspense series in Suicheng this year.
He has already obtained his high-altitude work permit, which he applied for last year. He should use this advantage to delve deeper into the operational rules of the power generation industry.
Having abandoned the dazzling "world of fame and fortune," his abundant inspiration is like a phoenix rising from the ashes.
However, this relaxed state of mind did not last long. After finishing the outline of a thousand words, he habitually picked up his phone to share his creative progress with Ha Yue. He swiped the screen and saw that an hour ago, their conversation was still about Ha Yue inviting him to her house for dinner, which he politely declined and apologized for.
His spirit once again left his body, and Xue Jing groaned as he buried his head in the sofa, wishing he could roll around on the floor.
Who understands? He spent the whole day playing tricks, frantically professing his love and throwing out misleading messages, all to delay Ha Yue's discovery of his mistake as long as possible, to cushion her fall from the parallel bars.
But there were no sand pits on the ground, only mountains of knives and seas of fire. On the way back, Ha Yue told him that she had not only watched all his interview videos, but she had also watched the live broadcast of his first book club meeting with other readers in the book club group.
He suspected that Ha Yue was deliberately bluffing him, but the evidence was conclusive. Ha Yue gave a true account of how he was drinking a half-sweet frozen lemon coffee during the interview that day.
Fortunately, Ha Yue fell asleep in the back seat after getting on the highway due to exhaustion. Otherwise, Xue Jing really wanted to jump out of the car and run away on the spot. Xue Jing had no idea how he managed to drive back home. When he arrived at his doorstep, Ha Yue was stretching in the back seat. He was so ashamed that he wished he could find a hole to crawl into. He hadn't even helped carry the New Year's goods. As soon as he saw Aunt Siqin and Zhao Chunni coming out from across the street to greet him, he immediately made an excuse about work, closed the gate with lingering fear, and panted for a long time.
Even when Ha Yue texted him to come over for dinner with everyone, he suspected it was a prelude to her breaking up with him, seeing threats everywhere.
All I dared to do was frantically type "I'm sorry" to her through the screen.
But he could avoid dinner but not late-night snacks. Starving, he lay sprawled on the sofa like a corpse with its eyes wide open until eleven o'clock. Ha Yue messaged him again. This time, she didn't politely ask for his opinion. Instead, she sent him a voice message telling him that since he had finished writing the apology letter to the readers, he should hurry over and eat.
Don't make people beg you three or four times.
As soon as Ha Yue entered the yard in the afternoon, she noticed that there were two new air conditioner outdoor units on her roof. She gave her aunt's family a box of cherries and grapefruits. Ha Yue then went into the house and took a walk around, and found that all the old appliances in the house had been replaced with new ones.
An 86-inch wall-mounted TV, a 735-liter multi-door refrigerator, a set of stacked washing machines and dryers, not to mention smaller items. In addition, Zhao Chunni's room also has an electric massage chair and a smart mattress.
She had only been away on a business trip for a week when her home was transformed into a superstore for the latest appliances. Without a doubt, this extravagant spending style was the work of Xue Jing.
Today, the two families celebrated the festival together. For dinner, Ha Yue helped Aunt Siqin cook a table full of twelve dishes.
At the dinner table, Jinzi and Ha Yueqian drank two bottles of wine that she had brought back from her business trip. After distributing the gifts, everyone cleaned up the dishes together in a lively atmosphere. The small gathering ended, and Ha Yueqian, slightly tipsy, snuggled up on the sofa with her mother to watch an 8 o'clock TV drama.
The old TV series about a man cheating and his wife seeking revenge has ended and gone offline. Recently, Zhao Chunni has been watching a currently popular anti-corruption and anti-gangster drama.
The characters in the play were smashing beer bottles over each other's heads when Ha Yue suddenly had a small handful of fried soybeans in her hand.
Because most Alzheimer's patients clinically exhibit symptoms of difficulty controlling their appetite, and in severe cases they may even search for rotten food in the trash, after Zhao Chunni first tore off a piece of paper from the coloring book and put it in her mouth to chew, in order to prevent her from developing such mechanical behavior, in addition to implementing a system of multiple meals a day, Wu Fangtian would also give Zhao Chunni some relatively healthy snacks outside of mealtimes.
Although the caregiver was off duty, Zhao Chunni had already developed the habit of going to the designated spot as instructed. As soon as Ha Yue turned on the TV, she immediately pulled out a food bag containing soybeans from under the coffee table, opened the package, grabbed a handful of soybeans, put them in her shirt pocket, and then tied the package back up.
She ate a handful of soybeans while watching a two-hour TV series. She ate each soybean very slowly. Once she finished the soybeans and the TV series ended, she would go to the massage chair for a massage and then go to sleep.
Perhaps thinking that Ha Yue, who was watching TV with her, would also feel hungry, Zhao Chunni's cloudy gaze kept involuntarily sliding from the TV to Ha Yue's profile. In the end, she moved her buttocks towards her and shared some of the soybeans in her pocket with her.
Ha Yue lowered her head, looking at the food in her hand, and felt the seat next to her sink in as her mother moved closer to her.
She held the beans in her hands, her expression somewhat subtle, and whispered, "Thank you." Then she pinched one off and put it in her mouth.
The soybeans were freshly roasted and seasoned with only a small amount of salt, so they didn't look appetizing at all.
Her teeth broke through the hard texture, and after chewing for a while, the broken beans finally burst forth with a simple, rustic flavor between her lips and teeth, accompanied by the aroma of beans and the coarse bean residue. She swallowed a few times, feeling very dry and astringent. Ha Yue picked up another bean and put it in her mouth. She raised her face again, her gaze focused on the television screen, and under the flickering blue light, her body leaned slightly towards her mother.
Soon, Zhao Chunni took out all the beans she had left in her pocket and put them into Ha Yue's palm.
The beans were covered with bits of fabric fibers left in Zhao Chunni's pocket, but Ha Yue acted as if she didn't see the impurities, said thank you again, and continued eating one bean after another.
Amidst the "crunching" sounds, the two grew closer and closer until Ha Yue rested her head on her mother's shoulder.
Her spine was crooked, as if someone had removed her bones, and she put all her strength on her mother's now frail body. Ha Yue's voice was soft and weak, as if it were also dampened by the sound of rain coming from the stereo. She said, "Mom, you're wrong. I have never hated you because you are sick."
"I think I love you." Although this love is always so heavy and unpleasant, making her want to escape.
"I think you love me too." Even though this love is always mixed with many out-of-control emotions, like searching for treasure in a winding maze, it takes a lot of effort to recognize it.
The mutual dislike that once existed cannot be denied, just as the delicate love that existed between them cannot be denied.
Ha Yue's words went unanswered, as Zhao Chunni chewed the bean curd residue in her mouth, slowly pondering as if she were a snail, wondering when the television she was watching had become so enormous.
She had thought about this question many times this week and had been answered many times, but this time, she suddenly couldn't remember what kind of TV she had ever owned before. Her TV screen was smaller, had been repaired many times, and had been with her ever since Ha Yue was born, but what color was the TV casing?
Gray? Black? Or silver? She couldn't remember for a moment.
In a hazy state, only a few green stickers flashed in her mind. The appearance of the stickers was exceptionally clear; they were the little dinosaurs that Ha Yue loved most when she was three years old.
The scene shifts to Ha Jianguo, who has medium-length hair, pumping up the tires of her bicycle in the yard. She is holding Ha Yue on the bed, looking at a picture book. The picture book is full of plastic stickers. Ha Yue uses these stickers to decorate all her favorite furniture. The TV, the mirror, everywhere is covered with green dinosaurs with bared teeth and claws.
A sudden warmth touched her hand. Ha Yue, taking advantage of her momentary lapse in attention, used her tiny fingers to pluck a dinosaur picture and stick it to her arm. The mother and daughter's eyes met, and Ha Yue grinned sweetly at her, her childish voice sweet and innocent, "Mommy, I love you."
"Yueyue, Mommy loves you too."
The next second, Zhao Chunni frowned, and the memories in her mind dissipated again. The TV program was still playing, but she stopped thinking about the old TV. She began to think again about who the little baby in her arms who was calling her "Mom" really was.
Why does she love her?
At 11:03 p.m., Xue Jing knocked on the half-closed gate of Ha Yue's house, carrying two boxes of bird's nest.
Busy with work, Ha Yue rarely gets to go home for a few days. Because it's so rare, the time she spends with her mother at home becomes very precious. After watching TV programs, she opens a massage chair for Zhao Chunni and talks to her. After the massage, she helps her wash up and coaxes her to bed.
After her mother went to bed, she prepared to take a bath. As she was running the hot water, she passed by the kitchen and saw several dishes that Aunt Siqin had prepared for Xue Jing, still wrapped in plastic wrap. She was too lazy to bring them to him, so she simply called him over to eat.
When the door was knocked, Ha Yue was quite puzzled. But when she went over and opened the door, she saw what Xue Jing was carrying and rolled her eyes inwardly, knowing that the great writer was being pretentious again.
Now all the valuables in her house belong to Xue Jing, so isn't this place practically half his home?
Going back to his own home, why bother knocking on the door and carrying gifts? It's such a shame he's no longer in the public eye; he should have been an actor.
So when Xue Jing very politely and subtly said, "I'm sorry to disturb you and Auntie's rest so late at night," Ha Yue didn't even respond. Instead, she glanced at the main house, signaling him to take the bird's nest inside.
Xue Jing cleared his throat, turned around and closed the courtyard gate.
He's really familiar with this place now. When Ha Yue wasn't around, he often came over to help out, bring gifts, and freeload meals. Now, he can't even pretend to be unfamiliar with it and say he doesn't know where the supplements are.
In the living room, Xue Jing skillfully placed the bird's nest next to the protein powder that Zhao Chunni had been consuming recently.
Ha Yue had already passed by him with the bath basket in her arms. Before opening the living room door, she turned back and whispered to him, "The food is in the kitchen. My mom is asleep, so you can eat at the small table. Keep your voice down and don't wake her up! It was so hard to get her to sleep."
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